Crate Training Vs. Yard for Puppy

Creating a Defined Potty Area

• To house break your puppy, you need to define a specific potty area. This can be difficult if you are teaching the dog using the yard only method. The whole yard is a place to potty and he may see the house as an extension of the yard. Once you get the puppy to go in the yard, you may not be able to teach him to use one place every time he goes outside, meaning there will be land mines wherever you go.

  Crate training is a bit different because when you can't be with the puppy he will be in their crate. Upon opening the crate the puppy will immediately be taken to a specific spot in the yard and told to go potty. This establishes a specific area where the puppy will learn to go potty, and, because he is being brought outdoors he will realize that the house is an extension of his crate, where he will not go potty because instinct tells a dog to keep his sleeping quarters clean.

A Safe Place For Puppy

• You want to have a safe place for your puppy. This is not only a safe place for her to be when she is feeling scared or overwhelmed but also a safe place to stay when you cannot watch her. The crate is convenient because the door locks and you know that, in most cases, she cannot get out until you are ready to let her out, upon which time you will take her immediately outside and practice going potty outdoors in a specific area.

  If you simply leave your puppy outside, she may or may not be able to find a safe place to be. She may or may not have gone to the bathroom before you brought her inside, and she may or may not be able to get out of the yard. Allowing free access of the yard is often times a lot more risky because it is bigger and less controlled.

Training on Instinct

• Dogs instinctually like to sleep in a clean place and they will walk away from that place to go potty. This den instinct works well with crate training because the crate, and often the house by extension, becomes the den that the puppy wants to keep clean. Once you establish the habit of going directly outside to go potty after being in the kennel, the dog will naturally take to this, as it is instinct.

  Yard training is not as instinctual. If a dog is left in the yard all the time, he may have a place he would prefer to relieve himself, but then there is confusion about where to go when he is in the house. Because you are not training on instinct, it may be more difficult to get the dog to understand that when he is inside, he needs to go outside to relieve himself.

Neighbors

• Consider your neighbors when you are deciding if you will be crate training or yard training your dog. If you will be crate training your dog, your neighbor may not even be aware that you have a dog as she will be taken out to play and go to the bathroom, but when you cannot pay attention to her, she will be inside the crate.

  If you will be leaving the puppy in the yard when you cannot be with her, your neighbors may quickly become aware of your puppy. Puppies don't like to be alone, so they will often cry. If you don't have a small house or structure for your puppy, she may feel scared and overwhelmed and cry. She may cry even if you do have a small structure for her, leading your neighbors to complain about the noise that is coming from your yard.

Warnings

• There are pros and cons to crate and yard training. Crate training will require more work on your part as you will be responsible for putting your puppy in and taking him out and then immediately taking him outdoors. Yard training will not take as much of your time, but it may take longer to train your puppy and it may cause friction with the neighbors.

  Some things you should be aware of are:

  Some puppies are afraid of small spaces and will panic and hurt themselves if left alone in a crate.

  Puppies can often get out of your yard, even if left alone for a few minutes.

  Many areas will remove a dog from a home if there are more than two to five complaints of barking.